Ecological Status of Galagos in Pugu Hills and Ruvu South Forest Reserves

Abstract

This study aims at establishing the distribution, abundance, and activity budget of the galagos (bush babies) along the standard-gauge railway (SGR) route at Pugu Nature and Ruvu South forest reserves in Tanzania. Pugu Nature and Ruvu South forests are among the patches of coastal forests that harbour three sympatric galagos: the Rondo galago (Galagoides rondoensis), the Zanzibar galago (Galagoides zanzibaricus) and the Greater galago (Otolemur garnettii). The study revealed that galagos were mainly encountered in evergreen forest/thickets in both forest reserves, implying that conservation of intact evergreen thickets is crucial for securing all the species. There were also variations in density of the three galago species, the density of Rondo galago being the highest in both forest reserves. The activity budgets of all galagos were dominated by alarm and advertisement calls, indicating that these calls may have ecological and behavioural adaptive functions including those related to anti-predation and reproduction.